Month: March 2024

Vizio continues to forge a path as America’s biggest budget TV brand with a new, low-cost 86-inch TV

Fresh off its announced acquisition by Walmart, Vizio has dropped news of a new 86-inch TV, the biggest screen yet to appear from the US-based TV maker. 

Ultra-large TVs are nothing unusual, with the best 85-inch TVs now starting to seem small compared to the 98-inch and even larger models that many brands rolled out at CES 2024. What is unusual about Vizio’s new 86-inch TV is its price: $999. That’s not much more than the 65-inch Vizio M-Series QX model I reviewed in late 2022, and it’s a stone-cold bargain for a TV of this size.

The new 86-inch model tops off the company’s 4K TV series, which features screens in other sizes ranging from 43 inches to 75 inches. It has a full-array LED display and supports the Dolby Vision and HDR10+ high dynamic range formats. The TV’s native refresh rate is 60Hz, but gaming at 120fps is possible when played at 1080p resolution, and there’s also support for ALLM, VRR, and Dolby Vision gaming.

DTS:X audio processing is onboard, which typically includes a virtual surround sound option. The new 4K TV also comes with a Vizio Voice remote control with a built-in mic, works with Alexa and Google voice assistants, and supports AirPlay2 and Chromecast for streaming from a phone or tablet.

(Image credit: Vizio)

Big and cheap… but good? 

Low-priced large TVs are becoming more common, with even premium brands like Samsung offering affordable 85-inch sets (and now 98-inch ones for 2024). But as we saw when we tested the Samsung CU8000 in a 75-inch screen size, the picture quality of these more basic TVs can be lacking in key areas, especially when it comes to contrast and black uniformity.

Picture quality shortcomings in lower-cost TVs can often be connected to the backlight technology used. Pricier models typically have a full array LED or mini-LED backlight with local dimming, which evenly distributes the lighting across the screen and boosts contrast. But the Samsung CU8000’s basic, edge-lit backlight caused deep blacks to appear as more of an elevated gray tone, and for highlights in movies with HDR to look comparatively dull.

That’s not to say Vizio’s 86-inch TV will suffer the same shortcomings. It does feature a full-array LED backlight, but there was no mention of local dimming in either the press release Vizio shared with us, or in the product listing on the company’s website. 

Other budget TV brands such as TCL and Hisense also sell 85-inch models for under $1,000, and like Vizio’s 86-incher, these use basic LED backlights with no local dimming. TechRadar hasn’t tested these models, but it’s unlikely that they’d provide the same level of performance as mini-LED TVs such as the TCL QM8 and Hisense U8K, models ranking among the best TVs for combining picture quality with value.

Both those TVs with an 85-inch screen size cost roughly twice as much as the new 86-inch Vizio. And while we can’t say if the company’s new top 4K TV can rival the TCL and Hisense mini-LEDs without first completing a full review, if it comes anywhere close it will be an incredible value at $999. At the very least, it has an inch of screen size on the competition.

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Rumors put Apple’s folding iPhone on ice; I’m not buying it.

Apple’s foldable iPhone plans are dead. It’s just too hard to bridge the gap between current foldable display technology and Apple’s exacting demands. Except I don’t buy this latest rumor, not at all.

This week Digitimes reported that Apple’s foldable iPhone plans had slipped to 2027 , then doubled down on that by reporting analysts’ concerns that Apple’s flexible iPhone plans might be shelved indefinitely.

I have no doubt Apple is hard at work on many different folding iPhone and even iPad designs, testing multi-part chassis and especially the flexible OLED, various polymers, and ultra-thin glass required to make effective, attractive, and useful foldable screens.

It’s hard work. I’m sure it’s clear to Apple that today’s state of the art is far from perfection.

Perfect is the enemy of the good

A few years ago I spoke to Samsung EVP and Head of Flagship Product R&D Team Dr. Won-Joon Choi about its ongoing efforts to perfect its already industry-leading foldable line. He walked me through the transition from a plastic covering to ultra-thin glass, and Samsung’s efforts to eliminate the bend crease that still exists today on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5. 

At the time, Dr. Choi told me Samsung was pursuing a couple of avenues to decrease the crease. One would widen the bend to make it less obvious, and the other was looking at new materials. At least Dr. Choi had a sense of humor about it, telling me that getting rid of the crease is “part of his homework.”

Perhaps Apple CEO Tim Cook looked at each of them and sniffed, “Nope, not for us!”

Samsung is not alone in this. I have yet to see a foldable that doesn’t have a crease you can clearly see and feel. OnePlus Open has less of it, but it’s still visible. Google Pixel Fold has it, and adds a weird quirk where you have to press the phone sides again to make the screen flat.

In its efforts to design and build the ultimate foldable, I’m sure Apple’s taken a close look at every folding-screen device on the market. Perhaps Apple CEO Tim Cook looked at each of them and sniffed, “Nope, not for us!” He’s probably demanding that the iPhone Fold or iPad Fold have no visible crease.

If the late Steve Jobs were still running the show, he might’ve said, “We won’t ship with a crease!” I think Cook is more pragmatic and might allow for the “least-visible crease on the market.”

Have it your way, Apple

Of course, Apple doesn’t build most of its components, and reports indicate the company is talking to Samsung and LG Display to source folding panels. Each company has extensive experience in flexible OLED panels, and Samsung’s best work is on display in its folding line.

Apple is famous, though, for not accepting the same product as everyone else. It’ll take an ARM chip and have it engineered to meet its own Apple Silicon specifications. It will micromanage components until it’s happy with the final product. Doing so is not about vanity or even  control, it’s about full-stack quality. Apple’s products function well together because they’ve all been engineered and designed by Apple (even if Apple doesn’t build them by hand).

There’s only so long that Apple will let Samsung lead in the folding marketplace.

I’m sure there’s some frustration that current foldable screen technology won’t give us a folding iPhone display that, when unfolded is perfectly flat and feels exactly the same as the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s Super Retina XDR Display. That does not mean Apple is giving up.

There’s only so long that Apple will let Samsung lead in the foldable market. Granted, it remains a small market, but with more competitors flooding in (OnePlus, Honor), it’s clear they all sniff a bigger market opportunity down the line. Apple’s traditional iPhone market is flattening out, and while it can still generate huge revenue with upgrades, it needs something to inspire new customers. It needs to keep people from switching to Android so they can own a cool foldable flip phone from Samsung or Motorola.

So, if you’ve managed to read this far, let me speak plainly: Apple is far from done with its folding iPhone or iPad efforts and 2027 can’t come quickly enough.

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New leak claims Sony’s WH-ULT900N will have Ultra Power Sound enabling deep, bassy audio akin to higher-end models.

Sony will soon release a new pair of mid-range wireless headphones capable of delivering bassy audio on the same level as high-end models. At least, that’s what this latest leak from industry insider Roland Quandt would lead us to believe. He recently spilled the beans on what may be the Sony WH-ULT900N headphones, which Quandt claims are the successors to the WH-XB910N.  

This information comes from German tech news site WinFuture, but we’re going to be using a translation provided by NotebookCheck. According to the report, the pair will sport a feature called “Ultra Power Sound,” giving the pair a frequency range stretching from 5 Hz up to 20 kHz. 

Having a bottom as low as 5 Hz is particularly notable because it’s a range close to what you see on high-end headphones such as Sony’s WH-1000XM4. NotebookCheck points out this would allow the WH-ULT900N to output “more bassy sound than many of its competitors.” 

(Image credit: Roland Quandt/WinFuture)

Images within the leak also give us our first look at what the headphones may look like. At a glance, they resemble the high-end WH-1000XM4 although with a few design tweaks. The USB-C ports on the outside of the cups are no longer there, having been replaced by what appears to be a speaker grill. And the company logo is in a different position.

(Image credit: Roland Quandt/WinFuture)

Specs

Quandt’s leak goes on to list some of the WH-ULT900N’s specifications. Inside the cups will be 40mm drivers, and its battery will last up to “50 hours of music playback”. That number drops down to 30 hours with ANC (active noise canceling) enabled. It’ll use the company’s own LDAC (Lossless Digital Audio Codec) connectivity standard to ensure high resolution audio across wireless connections.

With Bluetooth 5.2, the WH-ULT900N supports Bluetooth Multipoint. This will let future owners hop between simultaneously connected audio sources.

No word on when the Sony WH-ULT900N will launch, but when they do, the pair should cost around $215/£170 and come in three different colors: Black, White, and Forest Grey. 

While we have you, check out TechRadar’s list of the best wireless headphones for 2024.

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